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  Voters complete their ballots in polling booths during the first round of the French presidential elections in Paris. (Zacharie Scheurer, AP)
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  An election worker counts ballots during the first round of the French presidential elections. (Zacharie Scheurer, AP)
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  More than 44 million French voters were called to the polls for the first round of the election. (Zacharie Scheurer, AP)
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  Supporters of Socialist Party candidate for the presidential election Francois Hollande react after the results of the first round of the French elections at the Socialist headquarters in France. Official partial results show Hollande and Conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy are advancing to the run-off of France's presidential elections. (Remy de la Mauviniere, AP)
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  French President and UMP candidate Nicolas Sarkozy speaks at his campaign headquarters after the first round of French presidential elections. (Michel Spingler, AP)
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  French socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande arrives at Brive airport after voting. Ten are in the race, Hollande and Sarkozy being trailed by far-right flag-bearer Marine Le Pen, hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon and veteran centrist Francois Bayrou and a handful of outsiders. (Bob Edme, AP)
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  The two 57-year-old political veterans are thus on course to face each other head-to-head in a May 6 run-off, which will decide who runs what is commonly regarded as the world's fifth greatest power for the next five years. (Michel Spingler, AP)
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  Supporters of French Front De Gauche far-left party candidate for the presidential elections Jean-Luc Melenchon react after the results of the first round of the presidential election at Place Stalingrad. (Francois Mori, AP)
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  Socialist Party candidate for the presidential election Francois Hollande delivers his speech in Tulle, central France. (Christophe Ena, AP)
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  French presidential candidate Francois Hollande, center, leaves after delivering his speech in Tulle, central France, after the first round of voting. (Christophe Ena, AP)
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  Valerie Trierweiler, companion of Socialist Party candidate for the 2012 presidential election Francois Hollande, leaves the socialist campaign headquarter after the first round of the French elections. The first round of the French presidential election will be followed by a second round on May 6, 2012. (Laurent Cipriani, AP)
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  Socialist Party candidate for the presidential election Francois Hollande, right, reaches to a child after he delivered his speech, in Tulle. (Bob Edme, AP)
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  Former French Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal smiles before speaking with journalists following the results of the first round of the French elections at the Socialist headquarters. (Laurent Cipriani, AP)
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  (Laurent Cipriani, AP)
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  In his campaign, Hollande says Sarkozy has trapped France in a downward spiral of austerity and job losses, while Sarkozy say his rival is inexperienced and weak-willed and would spark panic on financial markets with reckless spending pledges. (Laurent Cipriani, AP)
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  An average of eight opinion polls conducted recently, showed Hollande comfortably beating Sarkozy next month by approximately 55% to 45. (Laurent Cipriani, AP)
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  French far-right leader and National Front Party candidate for the presidential elections Marine Le Pen delivers a speech after the first round of presidential elections. French voters defied expectations and handed a surprisingly strong third-place showing to Le Pen, who has run on an anti-immigrant platform aimed largely at Muslims, partial results indicated. (Jacques Brinon, AP)

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